Engine Troubles???

[Guest]

Glad that you found the trouble with your plane.

When I fly a retractable airplane I always look at the floor mechanical gear position indicator after selecting gear up or down to confirm that it is moving in the direction I expect it to be moving and say out loud “the gear is moving”  

Many airplanes have met a sad ending when an open circuit breaker is missed.

Clarence

[Niko182]

1 minute ago, M20Doc said:

Glad that you found the trouble with your plane.

When I fly a retractable airplane I always look at the floor mechanical gear position indicator after selecting gear up or down to confirm that it is moving in the direction I expect it to be moving and say out loud “the gear is moving”  

Many airplanes have met a sad ending when an open circuit breaker is missed.

Clarence

I have always triple checked the gear when landing but never thought to much about verifying the gear is up after departure. I learned my lesson on that one definately, and can say with certainty that the aircraft performs like garbage with the gear down.

[jlunseth]

Put a check of the latch in your checklist and check it every time before takeoff, especially when you have a rear seat passenger.  

 

[Andy95W]

So then what was causing the strong left yaw the second time you flew the plane?

[carusoam]

+1 for shared experience...

+1 for Adding this to the checklist...

People (big and small) scrambling to get in or out of the back seat, have been known to accidently release the E-release... they don’t know it’s a sensitive and important switch...

Things to know about the gear transition....

1) Hard to know it has gone up without checking, both places the light and mechanical indicators...

2) Going down, is much easier to know it is happening.  You can feel it locking in, going over-center...

3) Follow-up with light and mechanical sensor...

 

Some luck was involved... the gear moved enough to load up the CB to make it pop...

Then the plane landed on the gear in a less than known position...

Some MSers have not fared as well under the same circumstances...

 

Follow-up with what Andy mentioned above... the yaw is indicating something is not balanced from left to right... something has probably changed.  You want to know what that is...

Best regards,

-a-

 

 

[Niko182]

1 hour ago, carusoam said:

+1 for shared experience...

+1 for Adding this to the checklist...

People (big and small) scrambling to get in or out of the back seat, have been known to accidently release the E-release... they don’t know it’s a sensitive and important switch...

Things to know about the gear transition....

1) Hard to know it has gone up without checking, both places the light and mechanical indicators...

2) Going down, is much easier to know it is happening.  You can feel it locking in, going over-center...

3) Follow-up with light and mechanical sensor...

 

Some luck was involved... the gear moved enough to load up the CB to make it pop...

Then the plane landed on the gear in a less than known position...

Some MSers have not fared as well under the same circumstances...

 

Follow-up with what Andy mentioned above... the yaw is indicating something is not balanced from left to right... something has probably changed.  You want to know what that is...

Best regards,

-a-

 

 

Please dont get me wrong. When landing, i knew where the gear was. I checked 3 times. One on downwind, on base, and on final. On takoff though, i was paying attention to the annunciator panel for gear safe and it just crossed my head completely, that the gear never went unsafe. As when i retract the gear, it jumps from safe to unsafe, back to safe. I should have looked down, and that was my mistake. Also ive made a checklist over the time as had the aircraft, and didnt include the gear latch because i thought it was just an analog lever. That will definetely be added to the checklist. My mistake and thanks for the help.

Nik

 

Also yaw was me. Ive never climbed at 90 knots. I usually do at 130. So with the same power settings, considerably more rudder is going to be required to center the plane than at higher speeds.

Edited September 24, 2018 by Niko182

[carusoam]

Nik,

No problem....

The one thing to be aware of is what happens when the electric gear motor fights the manual gear being engaged...

There is a 50/50 chance of the brass(?) spline gear getting damaged.... the soft metal gear gets the entry channels blocked by the light damage that occurs...

One MSer took a series of photos repairing his...  Andrew @Hyett6420 to get a look-see of what could have happened to the spline gear...

There is a series of design features that could have been done better over time.... from the spline not being so soft, to the E gear switch not being so easy to accidently engage by unknowing passengers... to owners not being made aware of the importance of checking the E-gear before flight and reviewing with passengers...

Then there is that no-backspring clutch spring thing... a spring that could have got a better, more meaningful, name as well as a better quality control during the manufacturing....  (Andrew took pictures of that spring, while he was in there....)

All shared knowledge...

Go MS,

-a-

[Hank]

8 hours ago, Niko182 said:

sorry for wasting your guys' time for something so minor.

If it worried you enough to cancel a trip, it wasn't minor. Glad you found the cause, increased your knowledge and learned for the future.

In my C, climb performance is truly pitiful if I forget to raise the gear. Things happen in high workloads, like departing KFXE in IMC, turning out before the tower and climbing into clouds immediately. Then you wonder why you aren't climbing . . . .

It's also generally pretty easy to tell when the gear comes up, as it thumps home almost under your seat. But like Anthony said, the thump is louder going down,  but I feel it more coming up. Ghe green light always means "Safe for Landing". I throw the switch on downwind, check the switch on base and check the floor indicator on final; this last check on final has saved me a couple of times, especially those times Tower says to "keep your speed up." That got the previous owner once, but it's never blamed on anyone but the PIC . . . .

[Niko182]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

If it worried you enough to cancel a trip, it wasn't minor.

I have never been one to push myself with flying. with the other sports
I do such as rock climbing, and freeride mountain biking I'm always willing
to push myself, but avoid that at all costs with flying. Just from a quick glimpse
of the NTSB's website, its pretty clear that constantly pushing your limits in flying
seems to get all the people in the same place. cancelling a flight isn't bad.
ending up 6 feet underground is.

Thanks again for all the help.

Nik

Edited September 24, 2018 by Niko182